


There's an Echo

by opalmatrix



Category: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: Families of Choice, Family, Gen, Memories, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26553193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: Norwaydocks for its first peacetime station call, and Graff gets some news.  (Please read "He's Bound Away" first.)
Relationships: Jurgen Graff/OC
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Fandom Giftbox 2020





	There's an Echo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sevenall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/gifts).



> This is a distant sequel to [He's Bound Away](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26453437/chapters/64455226), so read that first.

It was Pell again, but not the Pell that Graff remembered. The operations chat had been cordial, even friendly, and though a squad of _Norway_ 's marines were on duty at the bottom of the ramp, no one expected them to see action. The docks beyond were busy in pleasant way, with trucks of supplies rolling along and merchanters greeting each other with enthusiasm or saying goodbye to liberty-loves. The first wave of _Norway_ 's crew was waiting at the main lock to head down that ramp and into their first peacetime leave after far too long.

Graff looked around at his crewmates, seeing lined faces relaxed, animated, full of anticipation. His number 1 Hellburner vets, now _Freya_ 's crew, were among them, Meg Kady's strip of hair still defiantly red, Paul Dekker looking a little lost but smiling even so, Ben Pollard tapping his data reader and scanning the screen fast enough to make Graff dizzy, and Sal Aboujib with her latest complex braid job and a bandolier of tightly rolled shopping totes at the ready. "Hey, Pollard," Graff called. "You're on leave, right?"

Pollard looked up and smirked, "You bet, XO, and I'm planning to make the most of it. Hey, there's the data drop."

_Norway_ had just finished scanning and sanitizing the first block of the news feed from Pell, apparently. Comm units were peeping, chirping, and buzzing all around him as people got responses to the queries they'd queued up during the approach: sleepover and dinner reservations, shop supply responses, and maybe even some personal mail.

Graff's own unit blipped faintly, and he checked it: his sleepover reservation from Silber's, as expected, but also something else:

_From: Helm Trainee Jurgen Saenz, AMS La Reina Estrellada / To: Commander Jurgen Graff, ECS 5 Norway / Welcome to Pell!_

"What the hell," he muttered: unaccustomed profanity. He popped the message open.

_Hey, sorry to drop this on you. I just heard that Norway would be pulling through sometime soon and wanted to say hi on our way out and let you know I was around. My mom is Com 1 Mayra Saenz and we'd been hearing news about you and Norway all through the war. And Pell is a regular stop now. So I decided to send you a note. Leave one for me if you're interested in touching base, maybe by the time I'm old enough to buy a drink, we can meet and I can buy one for you. All the best, Jurgen 2._

Time ran backward. Pell and the _Polly d'Or_. A liberty cut short, and 18-year-old Jurgen Graff had spent one crazy night with an older woman, confident and posted on _La Reina Estrellada_. He'd told his adoptive cousins "I like women who can take care of themselves," and apparently she had, the way merchanter women always did, to secure the future of their Family.

Young merchanters weren't generally interested in their fathers. But apparently this one was.

"Good news?" asked Meg, and he realized he was grinning.

"Well, kind of a surprise," he said. On impulse, he handed the com to her. Her eyebrows went up as she read the message. 

"Oh, une vraie surprise! Felicitations, chelovek moi. Hey, there's a picture."

"What!" He snatched it back, and she laughed at him: "You didn't even look. I'm ashamed to be in your command, XO!"

His kid — and how weird to think of that? — was thin and darker skinned than he was, with a shock of brown hair. But those grey eyes had looked back at him from a mirror his entire life, He could even see a shadow of the handsome woman he hadn't thought of since his trainee days on _Victoria_.

Meg was watching him, the little lines crinkling at the corners of her wise eyes. "You looking to keep this quiet, XO?" she asked. Her voice was kind, and he felt a sudden rush of gratitude for every comrade who'd survived the war years to stand here with him today, and all the merchanters still circling the wide Deep.

The liberty chime sounded, and he was saved from his own damp eyes. "Tell your crew later, Kady, in private. That's fine with me."

"All right then," she said, and turned away from him, still smiling. "Hey, guys, let's get going before the marines drink all the bars dry!"

There was a cacophony of answering hoots and rude remarks, and the _Norway_ crowd streaming down the ramp and onto Pell's docks. Graff followed, his chest warm with something he hadn't felt in years.


End file.
